Macaroni and Cheese with Kielbasa

Adam and I spent most of the day with my mom, helping her do some things outside. We got home around 4:30 and before we knew it, it was time for dinner. We didn't really have anything set out so I started looking around. I saw kielbasa, but we didn't have any kraft macaroni. So I created my own macaroni and cheese with kielbasa.

This was awesome! And might be my new favorite way of preparing kielbasa.

Macaroni and Cheese with Kielbasa (From: Myself)

• 1/2 ring kielbasa cut into slices and then cut into quarters
• 2 c. cheddar jack cheese
• 1 1/2 c. half and half
• al' dente pasta (anything will work)
• seasoning salt
• onion powder
• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. flour

Fry kielbasa in a pan. Take out of pan and set aside.

Melt butter in pan with kielbasa juices, add flour and mix until smooth and thick.

Mix in half and half and mix until no lump exist.

Add 1 3/4 c. cheese and simmer until melted. You can add more half and half or milk if it's too thick for you.

Mix in noodles, kielbasa, and rest of cheese. Serve hot :)

Chicken Noodle Soup with Meatballs?

Adam is not one to turn on food network, but last week while we were at my moms there was nothing on TV so I flipped it on to Tyler's foodnetwork show, and Adam thought this looked really good. He made it for dinner last night.

Overall it was great, I will put what we would do differently along with the recipe. Overall we would use more veggies, and more sauce, but smaller meatballs.

Chicken Noodle Soup (From: Tyler Florence)For the soup:

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 large carrots, chopped (next time we would use 4)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, sliced (next time we would use 4)
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 fresh thyme sprigs
• 3 quarts low-sodium chicken broth (we would use 2 large cans instead)
• 5 parsley stems, plus 1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
• 4 black peppercorns
• Kosher salt
• Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, for garnish

For the meatballs:

• 1 medium onion, diced
• Olive oil
• 6 links organic chicken-apple sausage meat
• 1 egg 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 handful fresh parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 2 pounds frozen cheese tortellini, store bought
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the soup:

Set a large stock pot over medium heat. Add olive oil, half the garlic, carrot, onion, celery, bay leaf, and thyme and gently saute until fragrant, about 5 to 7 minutes. Pour in chicken broth, add parsley stems, black peppercorns and salt, to taste. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer while you work on meatballs and tortellini.

For the meatballs:

Caramelize the diced onion in a saute pan with a little olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausage, egg, onion, thyme, parsley, and cheese to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they all come together. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a skillet with a few tablespoons of olive oil until just smoking. Use a small ice cream scoop (we would make them about dime size, and not using full amount of meat) to drop meatballs onto skillet. Cook, turning, until golden brown.

Drop tortellini straight from freezer into soup. Cook until they float. Once meatballs are browned, add to pot of chicken broth. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Give soup a final seasoning and serve in shallow bowls with a small shower of Parmesan, olive oil, and parsley.

Smothered Steak

Another crock-pot Monday meal, this was all Adam's choice, I gave him the cookbook and he picked out two recipes, one for this week and one for next. This was very good, but tasted similar to my moms salisbury steak. It was also lacking some spice. But was an easy meal :-)

Smothered Steak (From: Favorite Brand Name Slow Cooker Recipes)

• 1 1/2-2 lb beef cubed steaks
• all-purpose flour
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 pkg dry onion soup mix

Dust steak lightly with flour. Place in slow cooker. Combine mushroom soup, mushrooms, and onion soup mix in medium bowl; pour over steak. Cover; cook on low 6 to 8 hours.

Cheddar, Potato, Steak Soup

I LOVE soup, it got BITTERLY cold here this week, and I knew I would be working a later shift at work today so decided to make this soup I could do in the crock pot. I found it on Crystal's Blog.

This was VERY good! The potatoes and onions weren't all the way tender, it could of cooked a little longer, but overall it had great flavor and taste!

Cheddar Potato Steak (From: Gooseberry Patch)

• 1 30 oz bag of frozen hashbrowns
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• onion (I did 1 slice cut in small pieces)
• seasonings of your choice (I used onion powder, garlic powder, seasoning salt, salt and pepper)

Mix above ingredients together and place on low for 6-8 hours.

• 8 oz bag shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 3 Tbl flour

Mix flour into milk. Then add cheese and milk mixture to crockpot and stir. Place on high for 20 mins, until cheese is melted.

• 1 1/2 lbs bite size cooked steak

Mix in steak and cook on low until ready to eat.

Baked Pasta

Our kitchen is VERY bare, but we are going shopping tomorrow. So it was just getting through tonight. I decided to throw together a big old dish of baked pasta.

Carrie's Baked Pasta (From: Myself)

• 1 lb hamburger
• 1 jar sauce (we perfer Classico)
• 1/2 lb bow tie pasta
• 1 bag mozzeralla cheese
• italian seasoning
• 1 sm. sour cream

Fry Hamburger, then add sauce and seasoning.

Bring water to boil, and cook pasta until Al Dente.

Drain pasta and mix with hamburger/sauce mixture.

Spread half into a baking dish, spread sour cream over the top then pour the rest over.

Top with cheese, and bake for about 20 minutes or until cheese is golden brown.

Beef Roast

Tonight my mother in-law, sister in-law, and niece came over for dinner. I knew I was going to be gone for the day so wanted something very comforting. I decided to try my hand at a beef roast. Growing up we had this all the time on Sundays, it was always SO good. I have never made one, I don't really know why. Tonight was SO worth trying!!!

I used a seasoning mix which was AWESOME! I didn't need to make gravy with it, as the seasoning mix made it's on gravy.

Beef Roast (From: My Mom)

• 1 beef roast
• 7 potatoes (quartered)
• 1 sm. bag baby carrots
• 3 onion slices
• 1 pkg. slow cooker beef roast seasoning
• 2 c. beef broth

Preheat oven to 375.

Brown the roast on high heat with some oil for about 3 minute on each side.

Mix seasoning mix and broth together (the recipe on the seasoning called for water, I used broth).

Pour broth mixture in bottom of roasting pan, place roast on top. Place onion ring slices on top of roast, then throw in potatoes and carrots.

Bake for about 2 hours or until tender and veggies are soft.

Walking Taco

Adam and I go every August to his families hometown in Iowa for the local festival. My first year there I was walking by the food booths trying to find something good. I saw "walking tacos" I was very interested, as I love Mexican food. I got one and wasn't disappoint. I made them once at home a long time ago.

I served them on a plate, but the normal walking taco is served in a small bag of Doritos chips.

Walking Tacos (From: Myself)

• Doritos chips
• Hamburger
• Taco seasoning
• Sour cream
• Cheese
• Salsa
• Lettuce
• Onion

Fry hamburger and onion together in a pan. Meanwhile crush Doritos into small bite size pieces.

Once meat is done, add seasoning and water.

Assemble like a taco salad but use the Doritos instead.

Meatballs

Grape Jelly + Chili Sauce + Spicy Brown Mustard + Beef = ??

Meatballs!!! When Adam told me of his potluck I quickly started looking for recipes. I posted on the Nest board and someone mentioned this. Although I did not get to taste one, the reviews I got were WONDERFUL.

This where super easy to throw together. I cooked in the crock pot for about 2 hours instead of the 30 minutes it called for.

Cocktail Meatballs (From: Allrecipes)

• 2 pounds ground beef (I used about a pound and half, and got 25 meatballs)
• 10 ounces grape jelly
• 1/4 cup chili sauce
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard (I used spicy brown)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a large roasting pan with aluminum foil.

Shape ground beef into golf-size balls. Place on prepared roasting pan for 20 to 25 minutes until done.

Meanwhile heat the jelly, chili sauce and mustard together in a 2 quart Dutch oven. Drain and add meatballs to the Dutch oven. Cover and simmer on low for 1/2 hour. Serve hot in chaffing dish with toothpicks.

Pretzel Dogs

Adam has a new schedule at work, so he leaves about 10:45 and isn't home until around 7:45, I like to make sure he has breakfast or lunch before he leaves. This is closer to my lunch time so I made some lunch today. I saw pretzel dogs on Amber's blog, they looked lunch worthy so I whipped some up... They were SUPER good!

I used the single batch pretzel recipe and ended up with a little extra and 4 pretzel dogs, 2 dogs I did plain, and 2 dogs I added a slice of cheese. I preferred the ones with cheese, so next time it will be those!

Pretzels (From: Krashed24)

• 1 tsp dry yeast
• 2 tbls and 2 tsp brown sugar
• 2+ cups flour
• coarse kosher salt
• baking soda
• shortening or butter

In large mixing bowl mix 1 tbls HOT water and 1 tsp yeast. Mix until yeast dissolves completely.

Stir in 2/3 cup WARM water.

Stir in 2 tbls and 2 tsp brown sugar.

Slowly add 2 cups flour, stirring constantly. Continue stirring until the mixture is smooth and does not stick to the sides of the bowl.

Lightly flour counter. Dip your hands into extra flour. Knead the dough until it is stretchy and smooth. (Push it down and away from you with the palms of your hands, turning the dough as you work)

Grease cookie sheet(s) well with butter or shortening. Sprinkle greased cookie sheet(s) with kosher salt. Preheat oven to 475.

Using liquid measuring cup fill a large saucepan at least 1/2 full of water. For each 1 cup of water, add 1 tbls baking soda.

Wrap around hot dogs and cheese and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Meatloaf with Mac and Cheese

Adam has been in the mood for meatloaf, but it has been so hot. I was at stumped for what else to make this week so meatloaf it was. It didn't make the house too hot.

I used my regular meatloaf recipe.

And then I made baked mac and cheese. I got creative with the recipe and made it up as I went but it was very delicious.

Carrie's Mac and Cheese (From: Myself)

• 1/2 box of macaroni noodles
• 1/2 bag of colby-jack shredded cheese
• 1/2 of small fat free sour cream
• splash of milk
• handful of shredded cheddar cheese

Boil the noodles until al-dente; drain.

Add colby-jack cheese, sour cream, and milk to your texture liking.

Put in an 8x8 pan and top with cheddar cheese. Bake for 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Swiss Steak

This is a recipe I grew up one, but one that I don't make often since being out on my own, or married. Last week when Adam and I were planning the menu, this came to me. I am so glad I made it as it was a good change!!

Swiss Steak (From: My Mom)

• 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
• 1 large steak, I used a bottom round steak

Heat a skillet with some oil in it, on high heat.

Brown the meat, you want to meat on each side for a minute or two.

Place a can of cream of mushroom on the bottom of slow cooker, then place steak, then top with other can.

Cook on medium to low heat all day, enjoy. I served with mashed potatoes.

Jack Daniels Sauce

My Mom and I went to TGI Fridays a while ago, we started talking about how much we love the Jack Daniels sauce they serve with everything. When I got home I found a recipe for the sauce. Adam and I went down to my moms last night, and she tried this recipe. It was JUST like the sauce at Fridays. It was SOOO good.

Sadly, Adam and I forgot to bring our steaks we took out, so I guess we will have to make this sauce again this week with our steaks DARN :-)

Jack Daniels Sauce (From: Cd Kitchen)

• 1/3 cup diced red onions
• 1/2 teaspoon finely diced garlic
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup white grape juice
• 1/2 cup Jack Daniel's Black Label Bourbon
• 1/2 teaspoon Tobasco Sauce

Blend all ingredients in medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 35 - 45 minutes. Remove from heat. Sauce is great with chicken fingers or other fried foods.

Sloppy Joes, Cucumbers and Lemon Bars

Last night we had both of our mothers and siblings over, we want to do something simple that didn't take a lot of time to prepare. This was definitely an easy meal. We made sloppy joe's, chips and dip, watermelon, and cucumbers.

While walking through the grocery store on Friday I remember I hadn't planned anything for dessert for our company. We happened to be in the baking aisle. I asked Adam what he wanted, he looked up and saw a box for Lemon Bars and pointed. I was about to make a box mix when I have time, so I came home and found a recipe. These turned out really good! I will admit, my pictures looked horrible, so I took the lemon bar picture from the website.

Ozzies Sloppy Joes (From: My Dad's Recipe )

• 2 lbs mid grade hamburger (you want some fat to hold in the flavor)
• 1 small yellow onion diced
• 1 1/2 c. ketchup
• 1 T. yellow mustard
• 1 t. french brown mustard
• 1/4 tsp. Dill
• 1/4 t. Tarragon
• 1/4 t. Basil
• 1/4 McCormick Cajun seasoning
• 2 T. Parsley

Fry hamburger and onion together. Place in slow cooker with seasoning, cook for 3-4 hrs at least, but for best taste cook for 6-8.

***Tips: I didn't have an cajun seasoning so used steak seasoning, I also added about a tablespoon more of the brown mustard. I mixed it up let it cook for 2 or so hours and tasted and adjusted. This is also not a really BBQ sauce recipe, more of a spice flavored one. My dad adds different seasonings, sometimes Worshershire sauce, etc.

Cucumbers and Onions (From: My Mom)

• 1 cucumber
• 1/4 large onion
• 1 c. mayo
• 1/4-1/2 c. milk
• pepper to taste
• fresh dill

Cut cucumbers and onions in thin pieces, but not paper thin.

Mix mayo, milk, pepper, and dill. You want a heavy cream like texture not a milky like texture, add dill to flavor as you want.

Mix in cucumbers and onions. Let sit for as long as possible so that the flavors will all mix.

***Dips: I mixed this and let it sit for about 8 hours, it is best to do it as long as possible.

Lemon Bars (From: Cooking Light)

Crust:

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mace or nutmeg
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• Cooking spray

Filling:

• 1 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
• 3 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare crust, place first 4 ingredients in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Lightly spoon 1 cup flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Add 1 cup flour to butter mixture, and beat at low speed until well-blended. Press crust into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

To prepare filling, place cottage cheese in a food processor; process 2 minutes or until smooth, scraping sides of bowl once. Add 1 cup granulated sugar and remaining ingredients, and process until well-blended.

Pour filling over crust. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until set (the edges will get lightly browned), and cool. Cover and chill for 8 hours.

***I used a blender instead of a food processor. The crust was a little hard, I think next time I would cook them a little less. Also, we omitted the lemon rind, and added 1/2 T. of lemon juice.

Steak Wraps with Baked Tortilla Chips

Adam and I love tacos and wraps, but it never fails that our shells and lettuce go bad. So we purposely bought some steak to make steak wraps. Adam took care of the wraps, and I made the chips. I was a little unsure of the wraps that they wouldn't be too good, but they were wonderful! The tortilla chips were also AWESOME! I will buy more flour shells just to make more chips. I put a little honey after the chips were done baking, added great flour.

Adam's Steak Wraps (From: Adam)

• Thin Sirloin Steak
• Marinate (We used Steak and Chop)
• Lettuce
• Cheese
• Onion
• Tortilla Wraps

Cut steak into thin strips place in ziplock and marinate in sauce, we marinated for about 24 hours.

Fry the meat in the pan with marinate.

Then assemble wraps, you can add any toppings you want.

Baked Tortilla Chips (From: Krashed24)

• 2 flour tortillas
• cinnamon sugar
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Take a flour tortilla and brush it lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle on seasoning.

With a pizza cutter, cut the tortilla in half. Fold the two halves together and cut stacked pieces in half. Then cut each half in half. You should end up with 8 pieces.

Arrange pieces onto baking sheet in single layer.

Cook for 5-8 minutes (depending on the thickness of your tortillas) or until tortillas are crisp.

Drunken Steak!!!

Adam use to work at a local restaurant they are well known for the drunk and dirty chicken. It's marinated for a day or more in a mix of coke and liquor. He was in the mood to try it. So we tried steak last night!

Drunken Steak (From: Adam's Recipe)

• 2 steaks
• 2 shots southern comforter
• 6-8 oz of coke

Marinate steak in mixture for about 36 hours, longer is ok. Then grill until done to your preference.

**Tips: Our were a little over cooked, but had GREAT flavor, and didn't taste like liquor.

For the potatoes we boiled some potatoes. I mashed them in my kitchen aide with a splash of milk, a tablespoon of butter, and about 1/4 c. sour cream. I had some white cheddar cheese left and threw that in. They were very tasty.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

There has been a lot of talk on a board I visit daily about spaghetti. I quickly got that craving for spaghetti, our schedule hasn't worked to make it for a while. Tonight we finally had time to make it. Adam actually cooked a wonderful dinner tonight.We prefer to use Angel hair pasta instead of spaghetti. We also use Classico sauce, we add a little salt and pepper, and some Italian seasoning. This definitely will be our new standby meatball recipe!

Easy Cheesy Meatballs (From:Kraft.com)

1/3 cup Italian-style bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk or water
1 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 cup KRAFT 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper

MEASURE bread crumbs into medium bowl. Stir in milk. Let stand 15 min. Add meat, 1/4 cup of the cheese, the salt and pepper; mix well.

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Shape meat mixture into 1-inch balls. Place in single layer in foil-lined 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

BAKE 20 min. or until meatballs are cooked through. Transfer meatballs to large platter. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese.

***Tips: I saw a recipe for mozzarella stuffed meatballs they sounded awesome, but I didn't have any brick cheese, so Adam added about a 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese to this recipe.

A Welcome Home Supper

My best male friend Jake is in the Navy and was stationed for the last 4 years in Japan. He got home for a month leave a week ago Saturday. I told him when we picked him up at the airport I wanted to make him a nice dinner to welcome him home and show him some of my new cooking skills.

He came up to our house on Friday evening, we did a little mall shopping then came home to make dinner. Adam and I quickly wiped dinner up. This meal took a while baking but was quick to put together.

Meatloaf (Kraft.com)

• 2lbs ground beef
• 1 pkg. Stove Top Stuffing (recipes calls for chicken we prefer mushroom and onion)
• 1 cup water
• 2 eggs, beaten
  

Mix all ingredients together put into loaf pan. Then you can use BBQ sauce or we prefer about 1/4 c ketchup, and 1/4 brown sugar mixed together on top. Bake in a preheated 375 oven from 1 hr, and 15 min or until cooked through.

Sweet Potatoes (Cd Kitchen)

• 3 large sweet potatoes (I used 1 lg. can)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crunchy topping

• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Boil potatoes until tender. Remove skins when cooled. Put into a large bowl and whip them until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients. Pour into a greased casserole pan and top with the Crunch Topping. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes.


**Tips: I loved the topping but think I would use my moms sweet potato recipe and this topping.


Green Bean Casserole (My Mom)

• 2 cans green beans
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 can of french onions
• Salt and pepper

Heat milk, soup, and salt and pepper in saucepan.

Place beans in a casserole dish, add soup mixture, and 1/2 can of the onions. Mix together.

Top with remaining onions.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Sloppy Joes and Blondies

Last night I tried my hand at my Dad's sloppy joes. I lived with my mom growing up, and would visit my dad on occasion I always loved when he made his sloppy joes. They were not even comparable to my mom's manwich can! I finally got the secret recipe from my dad, I don't think there was anything secret about it, just something he never really measured. This recipe is great!! I forgot to take a picture, will try to get one of the leftovers.

Dad's Sloppy Joes (My Dad)

• 2 lbs mid grade hamburger (you want some fat to hold in the flavor)
• 1 small yellow onion diced
• 1 1/2 c. ketchup
• 1 T. yellow mustard
• 1 t. french brown mustard
• 1/4 tsp. Dill
• 1/4 t. Tarragon
• 1/4 t. Basil
• 1/4 McCormick Cajun seasoning
• 2 T. Parsley

Fry hamburger and onion together. Place in slow cooker with seasoning, cook for 3-4 hrs at least, but for best taste cook for 6-8.

***Tips: I didn't have an cajun seasoning so used steak seasoning, I also added about a tablespoon more of the brown mustard. I mixed it up let it cook for 2 or so hours and tasted and adjusted. This is also not a really BBQ sauce recipe, more of a spice flavored one. My dad adds different seasonings, sometimes Worshershire sauce, etc.

Basic Blondies (Nestie: Bakingblonde)

• 8 T. butter, melted
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla or 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• pinch salt
• 1 c. flour

Butter an 8x8" pan. Mix melted butter with brown sugar-beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla. Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in any additions (some ideas below). Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until set in the middle. Cool on rack before cutting.

Add in ideas:

• 1/2 to 1 c. chocolate chips or butterscotch chips
• 1/2 tsp mint extract in addition to, or in the place of vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. chopped nuts, chopped up candy bars

I also made this sauce for on top...

Maple butter sauce (Copy Cat Recipes)

• 3/8 cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup butter
• 3/8 cup brown sugar
• 1 package cream cheese - (8 oz), softened
• ¼ - ½ tsp maple extract or flavoring

Combine syrup and butter, cook over low heat until butter is melted. Stir in brown sugar until dissolved. Remove from heat and beat in cream cheese and maple extract until smooth. Heat again either over low heat or in the microwave at short intervals to reach desired sauce consistency. Serve over blondies topped with vanilla ice cream. (Should be enough sauce to generously top a 9- by 13-inch pan recipe)

***Tips: I halved this recipe, and didn't have any maple extract so added about a Tablespoon more of maple syrup.

Beef Portobella Mushroom Alfredo

Adam and I bought the stuff to make Alfredo about two weeks ago, everytime we were going to do it something came up. I planned to make it Friday evening, and had taking the steak out that morning to dethaw. So there was no turning back. But Adam ended up working late and we grabbed something while running errands. So I HAD to make it today before the steak went bad, so we had a early large lunch. It was a great recipe. It didn't thicken as much as I would of liked, but this is the best alfredo I have had!

Beef Portobello Alfredo (Nestie: Ashleighl)

• Pasta (angle hair or fettuccine)
• 4 beef tenderloin steaks, cut medallion size
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 large portobello mushrooms, halved and sliced
• 8 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1/3 cup reduced-sodium beef broth
• 2 tablespoons Madeira or port wine
• 1 cup half and half or heavy cream
• 1/4 cup Parmesan

First, boil angle hair or fettuccine style pasta. Set aside.
Trim fat from steaks. Rub both sides of steaks with oil and pepper.

Broil steaks 8 to 12 minutes for medium-rare (145 degree F) and 12 to 15 minutes for medium (160 degree F).

For sauce, in a large skillet cook and stir mushrooms and onions in hot butter over medium heat about 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in broth and Madeira. Bring to boiling. Add half and half and Parmesan and heat through. Remove from heat. Thinly slice steaks diagonally and serve with pasta and sauce.

***Tips: I doubled the sauce amount and made 1 lb of pasta, which seemed to be the right amount. We also only bought one larger steak, broiled and cut into strips.

Stir-Fry

Adam has been asking to make stir-fry for a few weeks now, I am not a big stir-fry fan but I know he really enjoys it, so after a long weekend of cooking and baking I thought it would be a nice way to enjoy a nice off. For what stir-fry is it is good. I personally don't ever LOVE stir-fry but I did clean my plate.



Beef Stir-fry (Adam's Recipe)

• Stir-fry rice noodles (We used Thai Kitchen)
• Beef, pork, shrimp or a mix
• Mixed veggies (We took the easy route and bought a package of stir-fry veggies at the grocery store but you can cut up your own
• Soy Sauce

Use box directions for pasta.... Bring pot of water to boil, place noodles in, turn off the heat. Let them sit for about 4 minutes. You want them al-dente. Drain

Heat the wok to medium-high with some oil.

Place veggies in wok, and cook for 2 minutes then add meat and cook for another 2 minutes. Then add pasta and cook 3-4 minutes.

***Tips: You want to get a rather thick pasta. Last time we bought almost an angel hair and it was total mush, this was more fettuccine.